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Why Obama Should Hire Eliot Spitzer
What to make of Spitzer's public re-emergence? As he appears on the Today show this morning, Justin Frank, psychiatrist and author of Bush on the Couch, asks who could know better about the failure of self-regulation than someone with a sexual addiction?
“All the cops are criminals and all the sinners saints.” -Mick Jagger
Five years after Time magazine declared him “The Crusader of the Year,” Eliot Spitzer was known simply and infamously as “Client No. 9.” The man dedicated to public service was equally dedicated to private servicing—and the link between these two parts provided him with a leg up, as it were, on being able to spot others’ delinquent behavior far more successfully than public servants less delinquent than himself.
Spitzer was felled by his own arrogance and sexual hunger, yet it may have been precisely the qualities that drove his private life that enabled him to recognize more than anyone the damage that arrogant, greedy financial institutions were doing to our nation.
Excerpt of Eliot Spitzer on the Today show; click here for full video.
Splitting the ego is an unconscious process by which one part of the self is allowed to get away with things that another part of the self would never even try, let alone countenance. Spitzer not only split off his corrupted self, he became self-righteous about cleaning up corruption, incorporating his private guilt over his sexual drives into part of his public persona as crusader against Wall Street corruption. His is more profound than the hypocrisy of Republicans Vitter, Foley, and Craig, who project their disowned and disgraced sense of self onto others. They may take the moral high ground while telling others how to live, but they are not the crusaders that Spitzer was.
Self-knowledge helps us investigate; willful denial impedes investigation. Yet Spitzer alone was able to use both attributes for his crusades. He recognized his predatory streak clearly enough that he had to split his delinquent private self from his public concerns. But this very act of denial helped him recognize what motivated the leaders of AIG and other Wall Street giants. His split between public and private delinquency was so complete, he never knew that he was using his own abuse of private trust as a way to understand others’ abuse of the public trust, or that his insatiable soul gave him the emotional insight to connect the dots and detect criminal wrongdoing in large private corporations. His personal behavior gave him added insight into secret behavior patterns behind closed Wall Street doors; his own experience doing secret sexual business after hours allowed him to see the ramifications of late trades on mutual funds offered selectively to preferred customers.
We can learn the most about Spitzer from his own words, not just his deeds. In a November 16, 2008, Washington Post op-ed piece—seven months after the Mayflower Hotel sting—Spitzer wrote: “No major market problem has been resolved through self-regulation, because individual competitive behavior doesn't concern itself with the larger market. Individual actors care only about performing better than the next guy, doing whatever is permitted—or will go undetected.”
Who could know better about the failure of self-regulation than someone who has a sexual addiction? And who could understand the power of greed better than one who regularly succumbs to sexual compulsion?
“Long-Term Capital Management, Enron, the subprime lending scandals: All are classic demonstrations of the bitter reality that greed, not self-discipline, rules where unfettered behavior is allowed.” The best way to stop a sexual perversion, such as an obsession with prostitutes, is to talk about it—telling one’s wife, for example. In marriage, it’s called honesty; in business, it’s called transparency.
“A market doesn't exist in a vacuum,” Spitzer continued. “Rather, a market is a product of laws, rules and enforcement. It needs transparency, capital requirements and fidelity to fiduciary duty. The alternative, as we are seeing, is anarchy.”
Substitute the words “marriage” for “market,” “emotional investment” for “capital requirements,” and “marital” for “fiduciary,” and there you have it.
What keeps most people from cheating, from straying, is a strong conscience—a sense of right and wrong. The impulses and fantasies are always there, lurking about, but our self-policing mechanisms prevent us from expressing them. On an unconscious level, Spitzer understood from his own experience that self-policing would never work any better with business behavior than with his own. Businesses need oversight because many executives can’t help themselves—just as Spitzer’s compulsive sexual behavior easily overwhelms attempts at self-discipline.
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Justin A. Frank is a clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center and a teaching analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. He is a regular contributor to The Huffington Post and author of Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President.
Thank you Dr. Frank for your astute analysis both cogent and assiduously convincing. This is one of the best pieces I have read to date on The Daily Beast! I look forward to reading more from you.
If Eliot lived in Europe he would still be in office. This is no different then making a case for abortion being against the law. This is a case where the only person that should care about Eliot & his sex exploits is his wife. Eliot still has a brain, he still has information & knowledge that could help this nation in fixing the mess on Wall Street & for this nation to hold against him anything to do with his PRIVATE SEX life is just plain stupid.
No, Obama should not hire Elliot Spitzer. If there is one thing the country hates it is government interference and hypocrites. Spitzer was caught with a prostitute, the very "scourge" he was trying to prevent. It's much worse than a tax problem.
He makes the Democratic party look bad, not for getting caught but for using a tired puritan idea to advance himself politically. You can regulate prostitution. You could even tax it. But you will never eliminate it. Every other article on this site is written by a call girl. And the government regulating who you can have sex with is the definition of "Big Government".
martyz42;
His private sex life isn't private when he sets himself up for blackmail. He was indulging in soliciting a prostitute which is against the law.
Prostitution is not a victimless crime. There is plenty of documented evidence that prostitution arises out of adverse social conditions such as being sexually abused in childhood, poverty, racism, lack of educational and economic opportunities, disability, and a culture that increasingly commodifies girls.
If you don't like the law, change it.
Martyz42,
I am always amazed when people espouse the myth of the public-private dichotomy. As though someone can be deceitful, unethical and irresponsible in their "private life" but somehow quarantine that off from their "public life." I submit that one can't even neatly define where one ends and the other begins, let alone turn certain compulsions and behavior patterns on and off at will when moving from one to the other.
That old axiom that "he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much" is not just a Biblical allusion, but a principle of human nature that we see confirmed again and again. As the great philosopher Will Rogers said, "we ought to live in such a way that we could sell the family parrot to the town gossip." There is at least an ideal there that is still worth striving for.
Also:
"If Eliot lived in Europe he would still be in office."
-----------------------------
If Spitzer lived in Europe he would be in Europe. But he doesn't, he lives in the U.S. If you love European standards, why don't you move there?
I believe Spitzer should be rehired. I believe prostitution should be legal and if I were his wife, I would want this to be a private matter. However, him screwing a prostitute and it being called a "sexual compulsion" or a "sexual addiction" just turns my stomach a bit. We've a habit in this country of not really taking any blame. What if I had a "child-beating compulsion" or a "stealing from a gas station compulsion"? I don't believe the law should exist, however, as a prosecutor, there is no way around his respecting the law. It was his job and he sent people to jail for something he didn't do! He gets off because he made a mistake, then everyone he prosecuted should also, if they're sorry.
Thank you Dr Frank for a nice illustration of how Eliot's mind battles for some sort of balance between his animalistic , instinctual, sensual id and his harsh , restrictive, straightaced superego. However I believe we would be best served leaving that intrapsychic conflict off the government payroll.
Spitzer wasn't a bad and what camed down should have been between him and his wife only some times the public need to know exceeds good judgment and then when you though in politicians in the mix well their you go
Oh, how absolutely typical of Democrats! Disgrace yourself - your wife and children forevermore and then play the completely hypocritical, "Do as I say not as......"
Way to go, you Wilfred Brimley of Morons - foist this clown on the public, lose more and more respect, more votes, then elections!
Hiring whores is NOT a private decision when you a part of the government that declares it illegal. You Dumb S..ts!
They doth protest too much.
Isn't always the people
screaming the loudest
about immorality (corruption),
that are gettin' a little
somethin' somethin' on the side?
When one works in government
agreeing to uphold and abide by the law,
messing with a " HO ! " is not a
private matter.
Untrustworthy hypocritical sleaze.
This article is the worst pseudo science I have seen in along time. Hiring a call girl has about zero to do with being a sex addict , try mid life crisis to me it equates with going to some kind of counselor. About 6 weeks ago we were treated to the DC call girls article on here that was considered oh too cute. That being said I do agree That Eliot Spittzer should be hired by the Obama Administration and empowered to set up some kind of independent oversite office to investigate thwe misdeeds of the individuals and corporations who caused this economic meltdown; ie the packagers of the credit default swaps rating firms who misrated the paper, mortgage underwriters etc.This office should be set up either directly under the president, or at justice or even treasury. Eliot Spitzer is the only talking head who appears to understand our current regulatory umbrella the finacial industry whiois not apart of that industry. BTW being on a madams list or screwing in your public office is not a republican or democratic issue hell David Vitter has been a customer of 2 prosecuted madams (but he was only playing slave boi) and Newt, but we are supposed to forgive them because they were absolved of their sins by their churches. I guess we will have to wait for next Yom-Kippur for Spitzer.
Why? Does Obama need a whore?
This article is overblown. Verbosity doesn't replace common sense. Spitzer like many of us has problems. Different problems we expect from a public servant, but hey- he's not alone.
Granted it was pretty contrary behavior from a moral watchdog,
Nevertheless he is a talented man whose skills should somehow be put to use. Using the services of a prostitute does not equate with the thieving and criminal behavior of the Robber Baron Wall Street wonders.
The bankers and brokers have robbed our citizens and robbed this country encouraged by Republican coddling. No regulations, oversight, and a totally ineffectual and corrupt SEC brought this about. Standard & Poors, mortgage broker
greed and more certainly are far more eggregious than bad personal behavior.
Especially bad personal behavior that can be changed with help and a desire to change.
Why would he hire a loser like spitzer, people are trying to set President Obama up for the oke-dok. Get real people our Presisident is way to smart for that.
Spitzer showed no mercy for those he prosecuted even as he was breaking some of the same laws he was enforcing against others. Moreover, it was not very long ago. Obama does not need Spitzer. And there is no shortage of need out there. If Spitzer just wants to make a contribution there are plenty of opportunities to do that outside of government. He can represent tenants against slum lords, employees against employers who violate labor laws, or borrowers against unscrupulous lenders. You don't have to be part of government to do any of those things.
I don't rule out the possibility that Spitzer might again some day serve in government, but there is no substitute for the passage of time; I distrust those who wish to rush their rehabilitation. Perhaps 2012. If he shows that he gets that the real problem was not his sex drive.
Just can't wait for some media gas bag or
government hack utter the new catch phrase
for 2009 . . .
Eliot Spitzer is . . .
hang on . . . here it comes . . . it's inevitable . . .
" TOO BIG TO FAIL."
Just read an excellent take-down of this piece over at Psychology Today: http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/lust-in-paradise/200904/spitzer-gets- franked
Thank you.
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